Whiskey For Breakfast Read online

  I’d been on the receiving end of a gun before. It wasn’t an experience worth repeating. Getting shot hurt like hell. My skin turned cold and clammy and my teeth chattered. I couldn’t take my eyes off the end of the gun, and any second I was expecting to die.

  I finally decided if I was going to die I wasn’t going to do it like a coward. I stood slowly to my feet and watched the gun raise with me.

  “I was just doing my job,” I said. “Maybe next time Johnny should be more careful.”

  “Johnny wants you to do a job for him. He thinks it’s the least you owe him.”

  “I’d rather just pay him back. Will he take a payment plan?”

  “Sure,” Smash Nose said. “I can start putting bullets in your body. Knees first. Then feet. I can cut out your tongue and slice off your ears. Does that seem like a good payment plan to you?”

  “I’ve heard better.”

  “And don’t even think about getting the police involved. Johnny has so many cops in his pocket you’d be dead before they could set up another sting. Believe me, someone is already paying for letting you get the draw on us the other night.”

  There was a knock at the door and Smash Nose and I both jerked. It was well past ten o’clock and I’d never had a visitor this late.

  “Answer it, but don’t let them in or you’ll be digging a hole in your back yard to bury a body.”

  My head was throbbing and my hands were shaking and I hoped to God it wasn’t Nick at the door. I looked through the peephole and saw Spock and then I answered the door, leaving the chain on so it didn’t open very far.

  “Are you okay?” he asked. “I thought I heard some weird noises.”

  “I saw a mouse,” I lied. “I’m fine. You must have pretty good ears.”

  “Not so much. I have this super sensitive equipment that picks up all kinds of things. Just part of the neighborhood watch job.”

  He backed down the porch stairs, giving me an odd look, and I wondered if my lie hadn’t been convincing enough.

  “You should call an exterminator. We don’t want a mouse infestation in the neighborhood. The last time that happened they chewed right through my life size cardboard cutout of Leonard Nimoy.”

  “I’ll call first thing in the morning.” I closed the door before he could give me any more advice and I turned back to Smash Nose.

  “Someone will be in touch regarding the job. And if you fail to deliver, I promise you won’t get out easy with a bullet to the head.” He grabbed his crotch and rubbed enough for me to see everything was in working order down there, and then he laughed when he saw the revulsion on my face. “You’re a pretty piece. I almost hope you fail.”

  Smash Nose went to my back door and kicked the chair I kept pushed under the doorknob. He slipped out into the dark backyard and disappeared like smoke.

  My knees gave way and I crashed to the floor. It was then I noticed the little droplets of blood dripping to the hardwood. I’d hit my head harder than I’d thought. I wheezed between sobs as I crawled to the back door and closed it again. Not that it made much difference. My window was still broken. I didn’t have a car so I couldn’t drive to my mom’s house. I didn’t want to get Savage because I didn’t know him well enough to know how he’d handle a situation like this one. I couldn’t call Rosemarie because she was probably fornicating with Leroy.

  I only had one person I could call.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I answered the door with my gun in hand when Nick arrived. I hadn’t explained things in detail over the phone. I was afraid he’d call in a uniform to come take a statement and that was the last thing I wanted. I’d just told him I needed help and that he needed to be discreet.

  “What happened to your head?” he asked, shutting the door behind him.

  I’d mostly gotten the bleeding stopped and I’d placed a giant ice bag on top of my head to help the knot go down.

  “It got slammed into that wall over there.” I pointed to the head sized dent in the wall and Nick took in the shattered picture. His eyes turned pure cop and then they focused back on me.

  “Shit. This isn’t a joke is it?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Of course it’s not a joke. I told you I needed help.”

  “Yeah, but I thought you were just trying to get me over here to finish what we’d started earlier. Maybe next time you want to say you’ve been attacked. Christ, Addison. I could have called it in and already had a team here taking prints.”

  “Which is exactly why I didn’t tell you. I can’t report this to the police.”

  Nick ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “You want to run that by me again? Did someone break into your house and attack you or not?”

  “Maybe you should let me explain and get off your high horse. My head is pounding.”

  “It looks like you’re missing a little hair too.”

  I gasped and reached up to touch my head. Sure enough, there was a bald spot just above my ear. My eyes welled with tears and a couple leaked out before I could help it.

  “I’m bald,” I sniveled.

  Nick went into panic mode at the sight of tears. “You’re not completely bald. I bet a good hairdresser could fix it. Maybe you should sit down.”

  He led me to the dining room table and I sat in one of the hardback chairs, and I laid my head on the table and readjusted my ice pack while Nick went exploring through the house.

  “What time did you get in?” he asked.

  “A little after ten. There was a bad wreck on the highway so it took longer than it should have to get back from Savannah.”

  “Savage didn’t walk you to the door?” Nick growled Savage’s name and I could tell he was less than happy with Savage.

  “My fault. I told him not to bother. The neighborhood watch is good about knowing who’s coming and going. I already knew you’d been here to see me before I got to my front door.”

  “This guy slipped in the back. Tell me who he is and why I’m not putting out an APB on him.”

  I explained about Johnny Sakko and the police he supposedly had in his pocket. Also that Nick should keep his eyes out for a missing cop. His jaw clenched tighter at that but he didn’t say anything. I also explained about the job Johnny wanted me to do for him to make up for the money he’d lost the night before. By the time I was finished Nick’s lips were pressed tight and his eyes were cold as ice.

  “How do you do it?” he asked. “I don’t understand how things like this keep happening to you. It’s amazing you’ve lived to the age of thirty.” He rummaged around in my kitchen until he found a bottle of extra strength Tylenol. He set three of them down in front of me with a glass of water.

  “I think maybe I’ve been cursed or something. Like maybe Veronica Wade sold her soul to the devil or one of those voodoo shamans and put a bad luck hex on me.”

  Veronica Wade was my archenemy and an all around supreme bitch. She’d been the one caught doing the nasty with my fiancé on our wedding day. That had been the icing on the cake on years and years of torture she’d hurled my way. I hadn’t seen her since she’d sued me for damaging her person and causing her extreme distress when her breast implant popped during a doozy of a fight we had. My mom told me she’d heard Veronica had joined a convent in Miami to do a little soul searching. I don’t know if I believed that. More than likely, Veronica was giving blow jobs in the confessional.

  “Yes. I’m sure that’s what happened,” Nick said, rolling his eyes. “Or maybe it’s just that you kamikaze through life without thinking first.”

  That was probably a better summation.

  “Pack a bag. You can stay with me tonight and decide what you want to do tomorrow. I’ll have someone come fix your window first thing in the morning.”

  I was too tired and too depressed to argue. Nick was providing a safe haven and I was going to take it. I grabbed my laptop and case files and tossed clean clothes and underwear into a duffle bag. I taped a note to the door for Savage letting h
im know something had come up and I wouldn’t be able to run the next morning. With the way my head was pounding, I might not be running for another week or two.

  Nick was silent on the way to his house. I had no idea what he was thinking. He hadn’t given me a hug or any kind of sympathy. If he had, I would’ve broken down into tears, but still I was feeling a little unloved. Not that that wasn’t to be expected. Nick had told me once that he thought he loved me. His feelings for me since then are a little ambiguous.

  Twenty minutes later we pulled up in front of Nick’s house and we shuffled inside. No one had followed us as we’d left my house. Nick had taken a couple of detours on the way to make sure.

  I dropped my duffle in the foyer and headed toward the couch. I was done. All I needed was a flat surface to crash until morning. I didn’t even care if it was a bed. I was too tired to walk up the stairs and to the guest room anyway.

  “The bed’s upstairs,” Nick said.

  “It’s okay. The couch will do. Too tired.”

  Before I knew what was happening the world spun around me and I was cradled in Nick’s arms. “I’m sorry he hurt you.” He kissed my temple softly and then carried me up the stairs. I was too tired to argue so I just laid my head against his chest. On a normal day, I would have been impressed by his manly show of strength. Today, I was glad he still cared just a little. Fucking pathetic.

  He walked past the room I’d stayed in previously and down to the end of the hall. My head was swimming and I hoped I wouldn’t be sick. Nick laid me down on the bed and pulled my shoes off, and then he systematically undressed me until all I wore was my underwear. He pulled one of his T-shirts over my head, stuffed my arms in the sleeves and then covered me up to my chin.

  I planned on telling him thanks, but I fell asleep before I could get the words out.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Monday

  I woke the next morning to the sound of buzzsaws working away in my head and something hard prodding my backside. An arm was thrown over my waist and a hand cupped my breast. Since I’d woken up like this several times over the past months I wasn’t completely alarmed, but it was still a little disconcerting considering the current standing of our relationship.

  “You’d better still be asleep,” I said, removing his hand from my breast.

  He placed a kiss at the nape of my neck and moved his hand back. “How’s your head?”

  “It hurts like the devil.”

  “I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind about pressing charges. I’ve got a couple of guys I trust in vice I could hand this over to.”

  “Let me think about it.”

  “So just how bad does your head hurt?”

  The nightstick pushing against my bottom flexed at the same time Nick did something magical with his fingers across my nipple. Probably an orgasm would help my headache go away. I read in a magazine once that orgasms cured a lot of ailments because of the endorphin rush.

  “You’re making things complicated,” I said, moving away from the nightstick. My head swam when I sat up on the side of the bed and I put my head between my knees until the nausea passed.

  “Not from where I’m standing. I’m trying to fix things. You’re the one making things complicated.”

  “You’re trying to fix things with sex. Sex always makes things complicated.”

  “Are you sure? Because I’ve always found it makes things a lot clearer. I’m thinking you should try things my way for once.”

  I grunted and moved toward the bathroom. We both knew it was only a matter of time before I gave in. My hope was I could get some kind of clue as to what Nick wanted out of a relationship before I let him unleash his nightstick.

  I stood under the hot shower until I was pruny. Nick’s hot water lasted a lot longer than mine. I washed my hair as carefully as possible and felt around the bump on my head. Then my fingers ran across the bald spot and I started crying again.

  When I got out of the shower I found clean towels and my toiletry bag sitting on the countertop. I dressed in a pair of jeans and a red sweater that drew attention to my breasts instead of the bald spot on my head, and then I followed the smell of coffee. Nick handed me a cup as soon as I walked into the kitchen.

  He’d used the other shower and his hair was still damp at the collar. He was dressed for work in gray slacks and a white button down shirt. His tie hung around his neck but wasn’t tied yet.

  “I want you to stay here for a while.”

  “How long?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe forever.”

  I bobbled my cup and spilled hot coffee on my hand. I cursed and sucked at the burn. “That seems like a remarkably bad idea.”

  “Give me a good reason why you shouldn’t.”

  “Well, my mother would have a fit for one thing. Living in sin is right up there with getting drunk on the communal wine or using the pages of your bible to practice origami.” Both of which I’d done, but I figured it was best not to mention it. “Also, we’re not in a relationship. I don’t need a roommate. It would make dating awkward.”

  “Not if you’re not dating anyone else.”

  “Do you know how old I am?” My voice had risen in pitch with every word spoken. “Of course I’m going to date. You think I like being alone when all my friends are married and starting families. Do you think it’s fun to know the chance I had at marriage disappeared like smoke because I have rotten taste in men?”

  “You don’t have rotten taste in all men. I’m a pretty good guy. I can do my own laundry, and I know just where to touch so you make those little sounds in the back of your throat. What more could you ask for?”

  “The fact that you’re even asking that is reason enough for me to decline your oh so generous offer.” Talking to Nick was as good as bashing my head against the wall, though not quite as painful. I rinsed my cup in the sink and located my purse, laptop, and files.

  “Going somewhere?”

  “I need to go into the office and talk to Kate.” It was then I remembered about Mr. Tannenbaum. I’d forgotten all about him with the excitement from the night before. “Anything new on finding Mr. Tannenbaum’s murderer?”

  “I questioned two of his step-children. The third is on a yacht somewhere down in the Keys. We’re checking to make sure he was really there at the time of the murder. The two I questioned were well alibied for the night, but something is off there. They both denied knowing about the change in the will, but they were lying. They’re the only ones I can see who have motive at this point. The killing was up close and personal, and whoever did it had a lot of rage.”

  “It seems pointless considering the man had only weeks to live anyway.”

  “Was that common knowledge?” Nick asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “I’ve got to check in at the station.” Nick rinsed his own cup and then strapped on his gun and clipped his badge to his belt. My mouth watered at the sight of him. Lord, that man was hot. “Take the Audi today.” He took a set of keys from the hook and handed them to me. “And let me know the second you hear anything from Johnny Sakko. I can put some feelers out without sending out any signals. He’s not someone you want to get tangled with.”

  “If he’s so bad, why isn’t he behind bars?”

  “Nothing but circumstantial evidence. The FBI was running a tax evasion case against him but that went up in smoke too. Word is Sakko had the judge in his pocket. Just be aware of your surroundings and let me know if you need any help.”

  He kissed me goodbye with a lot of tongue and a couple of well placed gropes and then he was out the door. I took some more aspirin and then I put on eyeliner, mascara, and lip gloss. There wasn’t much I could do about the hair so I pulled one of Nick’s black toboggans down low over my ears so it covered the bald spot. I pulled on my Uggs and was out the door. The Cabriolet sat in the garage and the door was already up. It was black with black leather interior, and the wheels were solid black as well. It was
a car the devil himself would drive.

  I slid into the leather seat and breathed in deep. It smelled of leather and Nick and it hugged my butt like a glove. It made me miss my Z. I revved the engine and then backed out of the garage slowly until I got a good feel for the car. And then I sped down the long private road that led back to the highway.

  Driving a car like this with a bald spot would be a sin, so I decided the first thing I needed to do was see if I could get a hair appointment somewhere. It would be a miracle if the hairdresser managed to cover up the bald spot and avoid the lump on my head, but I was willing to give the pain a shot for the sake of vanity.

  It was barely nine o’clock by the time I got downtown, and the mall wasn’t open yet. There was a little barbershop on Broughton Street that seemed to do a brisk business, so I headed that direction. I figured if customers kept going there they must not be all that bad.

  I was in luck. An OPEN sign flashed in the window and I managed to find street parking. A woman named Jules greeted me at the door. She had piercings all the way up both ears and her hair was dyed pink and spiked in a Mohawk down the center of her head. She wore black leggings, a sweater that had moth holes eaten in it, and hot pink Chucks. And she didn’t have an early morning appointment.

  I kept my eyes closed the entire time she was cutting because I told myself I wanted to be surprised. She put some stuff on my scalp to help with the tenderness and amazingly enough the soreness around the lump and where my hair had been pulled out didn’t hurt so bad anymore.

  Snip, snip, snip went the scissors, and the weight of my hair became lighter and lighter.

  “Cool,” Jules said, cracking her gum and whipping off my cape. “You asleep?”

  “Do I want to look?”

  “It’s going to be a shock. You had a lot of hair. You can only see the bald spot now if you pull it back. The layers cover it.”

  “That’s good.” No bald spot was what I came in for. If she accomplished that then I shouldn’t care about the rest. Only I did care. How was I supposed to drive a sexy car around if I looked like I’d gotten a haircut from Edward Scissorhands? I cracked my eyes open one at a time and then stared at the stranger in the mirror.